Earlier this year, SecEd reported on official figures showing a significant rise in the numbers of suspensions and exclusions from schools.
They show a total of 263,904 suspensions handed out during the spring term 2022/23 – the highest number ever recorded and an average of 3.13 per 100 students.
Persistent disruptive behaviour is the most common reason for suspension, followed by verbal abuse or threatening behaviour against an adult.
When it comes to exclusions, 3,039 were recorded in the spring term 2022/23 (0.04 per 100 students), up from 2,179 the previous spring term.
The reasons for these rising figures are manifold. What is clear, however, and without wanting to sensationalise any of this, is that the increasingly complex needs of some students are presenting their teachers with major challenges.
I discussed these issues during a recent episode of the SecEd Podcast, focused on how we can help prevent suspensions and exclusions from our secondary schools – you can still listen to this here.
Sophisticated approaches are required to meet these challenges, and to help children who have particular difficulties with engagement, behaviour, or emotional wellbeing.
For those who have experienced trauma and/or loss in their early years, if we get it right, schools can play a crucial part in supporting their resilience and emotional wellbeing, better enabling them to learn.
In this article, I want to discuss some of these strategies, as well as looking at this through the lens of attachment and relationship-building.
I want to focus on working with the group who, according to the figures, are most at risk and most frequently excluded from school: teenagers.
Starting with attachment
Most teachers will be practising the basis of these strategies in their normal, everyday teaching – being consistent, being fair, trying to build positive relationships, sanctioning inappropriate behaviour while rewarding appropriate behaviour, scaffolding alternatives, reaching out to parents/carers and so on.
Sometimes, however, more is needed. We may need to further adapt our practice, especially with students whose emotional age may be much younger than their actual age, and those with more complex needs, to provide them with “second chance learning”.
So, before we get into strategies, what is attachment theory? Attachment was described by the psychologist John Bowlby in 1969 as the “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings”. The quality of the earliest relationship – usually between mother and baby – creates connections in the brain which have a profound impact in later life.
If we haven’t had that secure, early experience of love and empathy, we may not be able to feel it ourselves in the usual way. If we did not have our emotions regulated or soothed as an infant, then we might not be able to control our own feelings – and therefore our actions – later in life.
Such children can come to view themselves as worthless or undeserving, adults as cruel or untrustworthy, and the world as a dark and dangerous place. This is why they dysregulate – or “kick off” – whenever they are challenged by an adult – it is a reaction to a perceived threat. They are simply trying to survive.
Attachment difficulties and early trauma, such as the experience of abuse, can profoundly affect a child’s ability to process information and readiness to learn. They might also struggle to form and retain healthy relationships. You may have seen this manifest itself in aggressive or withdrawn behaviour, or perhaps the flipside – where they become over-familiar.
Disclaimer: it can be a mistake to assume that attachment is always the reason, or the only reason, for very disruptive behaviour. There may be undiagnosed learning difficulties, for example, and attachment theory doesn’t consider other possible factors such as socio-economic or cultural issues.
All this means that a diversity of approaches is required. Nonetheless, we are increasingly recognising the importance of an understanding of attachment and early trauma in working with vulnerable children. Again, I have written previously in SecEd about the trauma-informed approach.
Difficulties related to attachment or trauma will often impact on:
- A young person’s presentation in class.
- Their response to the teacher.
- Their response to the task.
- The development of skills, including communication, resilience and how information is processed.
All of this is challenging enough, especially in a large education setting. But when such difficulties are added to the natural challenges of the teenage years, with all those raging hormones and the necessary regression that occurs alongside growth, such difficulties are likely to be compounded.
Working with teenagers
Let’s look at some underlying principles of working with teenagers with attachment/trauma-related difficulties.
First, look beyond the worrying and difficult behaviour itself, toward the underlying reasons that might be driving the behaviour. What advantage might they gain through these defence mechanisms? What perceived threat are they protecting themselves against?
Here's a classic school scenario, involving a teenage student:
He (might be she of course) turns up late – again – for a lesson. The teacher asks him why he's late. He refuses to answer. The teacher asks again, more sternly, and he starts to become belligerent.
Teacher becomes cross, perhaps threatens consequences. This is a “difficult” student who is often defiant, so the teacher's anxiety level rises quickly. They're expecting a battle. The student digs his heels in. Teacher and student become trapped in an awkward stand-off, neither wanting to be seen to back down. Eventually, the student blows up, swears at the teacher, upends a table, and is suspended.
What this teacher didn't know – because they weren't told – is that the student is in care and had been to a meeting with their social worker (or a therapy session, or a PEP – personal education plan – meeting, or any one of a plethora of additional demands on children in care that are designed to protect and support but which are often difficult to manage).
Our young person didn't want to admit this because his class-mates don't know that he is in care, and he does not want them to know.
The consequences of having to face that social stigma, when he already struggles with what attachment theory calls “toxic shame”, feel far worse than anything the teacher can do to him.
Now, consider the following 13 areas of practice and how you might be able to facilitate – or better facilitate – the following strategies in school, all of which might be an effective use of your Pupil Premium or other funding:
Transitions: It is likely that they will need additional preparation for any transitions – this could be between lessons, teachers, rooms, key stages, and particularly any timetable modifications or alternative provision.
Routines: Have a clearly marked routine and structure to your classes. Some young people cannot cope with sudden change and need to know that there is structure, even if they initially kick against it. Use visual timetables to show daily routines if appropriate. Warn of any changes in routine in advance. If there is going to be a cover teacher, think about allowing the student to work somewhere safe with a trusted adult. If this is not possible, give them a time-out card or similar. Work towards less movement between different spaces and staff within the student’s timetable.
Emotional age: Remember that, emotionally, these adolescents may be far younger than their chronological age.
Checking in: Positive check-ins and check-outs at the start and end of lessons, and the school day, are important and should be encouraged.
Secure base: A physical space that students can access when they are struggling needs to be established and kept safe and secure for them, with some personalisation if possible.
Key adult: A key adult should be allocated to the young person and that key relationship needs nurturing. That key adult should be present and involved in any crisis, wherever possible, for translation, boundary-setting, advocacy, and follow-up work.
Staff communication: It can be helpful for staff to meet regularly to discuss and reflect upon students who are causing concern and consider preventative courses of action. This can help them to be more proactive, rather than just “crisis-driven”. As far as possible, teachers need to be supported to become “reflective containers”.
Building relationships: Look for any opportunities for fun, warmth, and humour in your interactions with the student and make the most of them.
Family engagement: Strong home-school partnerships are critical – how welcoming is the school environment to adults who may have had a negative experience of education themselves when they were children or who may have difficulties around communication? How creative can you be in nurturing these relationships – and in avoiding exclusion or “triggering” any negative associations for parents?
Team around the child: Strong collaborative working is also important where students are involved with social care or other outside agencies. Integrate advice from different professionals into one holistic support plan through the key worker.
Designated teacher: For children in care or previously in care, the key member of staff is likely to be your designated teacher for this cohort, and it is vital that this person is given the time, training, support, and a level of seniority to perform this role effectively. I cannot over-emphasise how important this role can be and how hard-pressed they often are to perform the role in school. I have written in SecEd previously about how the designated teacher can support looked after and previously looked after children.
Extra-curricular: Make the most of all extra-curricular and social opportunities in and out of school to make a difference in the student’s life. You just might find the “hook” that will help them to overcome those barriers. Arts, cultural, sports activities and enrichment can be particularly important for students who have missed out on those experiences, and who feel excluded or marginalised in any way. Consider also how disadvantaged students are given encouragement and support to aspire toward further and higher education – careers advice and guidance and quality work experience, and opportunities to take extra responsibility – e.g. as a buddy or peer mentor, perhaps by supporting a younger student.
Positive farewells: If a student has to leave the school for any reason, do everything you can to give them a positive send-off, with the opportunity for some sense of meaning and proper goodbyes.
Digging deeper
Now, let’s dig into some of these strategies in a bit more depth.
Sometimes “less is more”. It may be that the best way to relate when communication seems blocked – particularly for students with significant SEND – is non-verbally.
Try using visual resources, art activities or study skill techniques such as mind-mapping. Play games which require turn-taking without too much strategy, e.g. word games and role-play, watch films together or use music as a stimulus. At the same time, a calm and affirming presence may be all that this young person is able to absorb at that moment.
At the same time, especially with teenagers, avoid the temptation to over-help. They need to experience some frustration in order to develop their ability to problem-solve and learn.
Acknowledge how they may feel: “I know it feels impossible to do this without the teacher next to you. It can feel very frustrating when we are learning something new. You can trust your brain to do it, though.”
How you approach tasks is key. Use a task to develop a relationship around it, but try commenting on the task itself, rather than focusing on the student.
Allow a young person some control and choice over activities where possible. This can be particularly powerful for young people who are struggling with feelings of helplessness or loss of control. For example: “There are two practical tasks – you can choose to do them in the order you think best.”
But the task itself is also important. Design a task which involves a product rather than a process so that there is an achievable goal, e.g. making a booklet, a poster, writing an article etc.
If a lesson or task involves talking or writing about themselves, this can be very challenging. However, the use of metaphor and story can be helpful in these cases – activities where they can draw, write, listen to stories, explore, and discuss themes in books/television/film, use drama etc may be safer than asking them to talk directly about themselves.
Share ideas and feedback. Network and share any teaching and learning strategies which prove successful, such as ways of communicating with a student, preferred strategies for support, useful templates (for example, ABC charts, individual support plans, scaffolding of written pieces, differentiated task sheets). Again, hold regular meetings of all who teach and support the student to share feedback, ideas, and thoughts.
“Time in” is better than “time out”, but if a student really is at risk of suspension or permanent exclusion then supported time out can work, either via an internal inclusion facility, alternative provision, or perhaps time spent in a partner school, potentially as part of a reciprocal arrangement.
Final thoughts
A key tenet is that “relationships build brains”. Where adverse childhood experiences have affected a young person's capacity to engage, learn, and cope with the challenges of a school day, relational strategies, alongside clear and reasonable consequences, are needed to help them repair and rebuild.
When working with teenagers, it often becomes even more important that we understand the young person. This can be a tricky balance, of course, within the context of safeguarding, GDPR, and a need for professional boundaries.
But when we take appropriate steps to understand what makes the young person tick, and the specific challenges they may be facing, our chances of reaching them increase exponentially.
- Darren Martindale is virtual school head at City of Wolverhampton Council. Find his previous contributions to SecEd via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/darren-martindale